Not after an ankle injury sidelined him for the better part of last season, limiting him to 37 carries for 116 yards and four receptions for 16 yards in seven games with the Cincinnati Bengals.

This, after the running back rushed for 1,124 yards and nine touchdowns as a second-round draft pick out of Louisiana State University in 2014, another 794 yards and 11 TDs in 2015 and 839 yards and nine more scores two seasons ago.

Signed by the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent in March, the 6-foot-1, 230-pounder’s most recent game came on Oct. 29 of last year when he picked up 11 yards on four carries in the Bengals’ 24-23 win over the Indianapolis Colts at Paul Brown Stadium.

“Missing last season and being on IR (he was placed on the injured reserve list on Nov. 11) and watching all the games and watching everyone get to play was tough for me,” said Hill. “Obviously people overlook the preseason, but for me it’s my first action being out there in a game in a long time. So I’m excited for it and I’m going to take every opportunity to try to make the most of it. This first preseason game is the first opportunity for that.”

After continuing training camp with a rain-shortened practice on the fields behind Gillette Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, the Patriots will kick off the preseason by playing host to the Washington Redskins in Foxboro at 7:30 Thursday night.

For Hill, the transition from practice to game conditions is another step forward in his bid to restart his career.

“I think as running backs (a) game is the best thing for us, especially for getting in game shape,” said Hill. “You can get 30 balls out here, but it’s a lot different than 30 carries or 30 touches – obviously, it’s not going to be that many – in a game. So, for us, it’s very important to get those touches, those run reads and also blocking, too, and cutting and all that stuff you can’t get out here.”

Patriots rain: A downpour brought Wednesday’s practice, which was little more than a walkthrough, to an early end, but at least one member of the team was a bit surprised that it even continued in the wet conditions.

Welcome to New England, Jason McCourty.

“Guys here, I think, are so used to, no matter what the weather is we’re in it,” safety Devin McCourty, who’s in his ninth training camp with the team, said. “Once it started raining, no one said anything, just keep practicing. I was even talking to my brother (cornerback Jason McCourty is in his first camp with the Patriots following eight years in Tennessee and one in Cleveland). He was like, ‘Man, I’ve been on teams where we’ve gone inside the bubble once this happens,’ but here no one thinks that because we never do it.”